Vix Technology, a transport ticketing and payment solutions company, has been selected by three city partners in the Edmonton, Canada, metropolitan region, which includes the City of Edmonton, Strathcona County and City of St. Albert, to implement a new advanced Regional Smart Fare Solution (RSFS).

The RSFS is a 15-year contract that will move the three cities from a cash and paper-based ticketing system to a common contactless fare payment system utilizing an account-based back office. The RSFS initiative is made up of multiple components, and Vix will design, build, operate, and maintain the entire solution, inclusive of front-end equipment, back-office infrastructure, smart card media and more for the duration of the contract.

“Vix is thrilled to be in partnership with City of Edmonton, Strathcona County and City of St. Albert to deliver one of the most advanced account-based systems that will provide its citizens seamless and flexible access to public transportation, including the ability to pay with contactless EMV cards,“ said Shane Quinn, CEO of Vix Technology.

Account-based systems have been on the forefront of advanced fare collection solutions due to the robust nature of the back office. The Vix solution will move fare calculations and settlement to the back office, offer payment convenience for riders and allow the three Edmonton metropolitan region cities’ transit agencies to collect real time data. And with the Vix solution, the open architecture platform allows for scalability and integration and a standards-based approach.

The new RSFS will make fare payments seamless across all modes of transportation and will encourage increased use of public transit and travel across the three cities, servicing more than 1.24 million people. This new system will incorporate open payments, which allows riders flexible payment options, including contactless EMV cards, branded retail prepaid cards, or agency or third party-issued transit cards.

Open architecture fare collection systems are rapidly becoming a focus in large urban cities with growing public transportation needs due to scalability, ease of integration with other systems already in place, and the opportunity to add surrounding regional transit partners.

Vix has a strong and proud history of playing an innovative role in the global fare collection market and is a leader implementing the latest transportation technology. Some of the most recent contracts awarded to Vix include a contract by the Malaysian Government’s public transport regulator (SPAD) to unify payments for the country’s multiple transit operators under a single transport ticketing system, and a new, state-of-the-art comprehensive fare payment system for the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART).